We’ve been waiting a long time for Psychonauts 2 already, but now we know we will have to wait a little bit longer to get our hands on the game. It’s already been 15 years since the first game was released, but to disappointing sales despite eventually garnering a large cult fan base. A sequel was revealed to be in development at Double Fine in 2015, but since then has been mostly quiet aside from the several delays to the game. The game will be a direct sequel to the first, and to the VR title Psychonauts and the Rhombus of Ruin.
The Xbox Games Showcase this past week gave us our first true game play trailer for Psychonauts 2, but lacked any details on when the game would finally be released. A new blog post has gone up on Xbox written by Double Fine Content and Community Manager Heather Alexandra that states the game will be coming in 2021. Despite Double Fine being aquired by Microsoft, the game will be released on Xbox Game Pass, PC, Mac, and even PS4.
Psychonauts 2 has been no stranger to delays. When it was originally announced in 2015 it was given a rough release date of 2018. That was then pushed to 2019, and again pushed to 2020 after Double Fine was purchased by Microsoft. This last delay, if it is the final delay the game has, will mark a six year gap between announcement and release.
Of all the delays this game has seen, the one pushing it into 2020 was the most understandable. Double Fine went on record stating that being purchased by Microsoft gave them enough funding to add content back into the game they would’ve otherwise had to have cut, specifically boss battles.
The post ends with the team acknowledging the long wait stating, “Fans have been waiting for a while, but the wait is almost over! Psychonauts 2 is packed with mind-bendy worlds, memorable characters, and Tim Schafer’s characteristic mix of snappy comedy and grand adventure. That can mean slinking around a dark world full of demonic teeth or going on a buddy-comedy road-trip to awaken lost senses. When the only limit is your imagination, there’s a little bit of everything and anything!”
Delays are never fun to hear about, but we can usually take solace in the fact that they mean the developers get a little more time to make the game the best they possibly can. However, when delays begin to stack up like they have for this title, it can often mean that development is not going as smooth as it should. We can only hope that Microsoft’s purchase of Double Fine has only given them more opportunities to improve the game and not interfered with their development.
Source: Xbox
